Copyholder



1 Aug. 20,- 1957 P. A. REUTTER COPYHOLDER Filed June 29, 1955 INVEINIITOR Philip A. Reutter ORNEY COP-YHOLD'ER Philip A. Reutter, Waterbury, Conn assignor to Scoviii Manufacturing Company, Waterbury, Conan, a carporation of Connecticut Application June 29, 1955, Serial No. 518,840 '4 Claims. (Cl. 120-32 This invention relates to copy holders for holding a sheet of manuscript, or typewritten or printed matter to be copied, and for moving the sheet intermittently a line at a time, so as to bring the lines successively to a predetermined level or position of vision for the copyist, an example of which is shown in Patent No. 2,162,706.

Considerable difficulty has been experienced in the past with copy holders in assuring that the copy paper would be uniformly fed by the machine. The slightest variation in the size of the feeding wheels or other commercial tolerances required in themanufacture of the machine was suflicient to produce an unreliable copy holder. To overcome this fault resort was made to a floating sleeve supporting the friction wheels and rotatably mounted on a stationary spindle. This floating sleeve construction was costly to make and did not assure a uniform feeding of the copied work, as experience has taught that this construction would feed the copied work by a socalled step-ladder effect, i. e. alternately feeding one side of the copied work faster than the other.

It is the object of this invention to greatly simplify the construction of the feed roller unit and assure that the feed rollers will have uniform pressure against the paper.

A further object is to mount the feed roller unit within the support stand in such a manner that the spindle is automatically self-adjusting to equalize the pressure of the feed rollers against the copy work.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Fig. l is a vertical sectional view of a copy holder embodying my invention.

Fig. 2 is a right end view of the same.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary front elevational view of the upper part of the copy holder with the scroll plate removed, and

Fig. 4 is a transverse sectional view of the upper part of the copy holder taken along the line 44 of Fig. 2.

Referring now to the drawings, the copy holder device comprises a casing having opposite right and left side Walls 11 and 12 which are preferably folded up from the base 13 thereof. The casing also includes a scroll-like plate 14, the greater part of which forms a cover for the front of the casing 10. The scroll-like plate 14 is held in place by an assembly screw 15 rotatably mounted in the base 13. The rear of the casing may be closed oh by a back wall 16 to protect the internal mechanism.

Pressure means engaging the front face of the copy may take the form of a presser member 17 hingedly mounted to the upper part of the scroll plate as by a hinge pin 18 and normally urged to swing toward the front wall of the casing by a suitable coil spring (not shown).

The feed mechanism includes a roller unit 19 located on the inside of the casing 10. The roller unit 19 may be intermittently operated from the front of the device Unite States atent 2 by a finger trip bar 20 through adog '21 and ratchet wheel 22.

The particular construction and manner of mounting the roller unit 19 is the subject of my invention and consists of a solid axle shaft or spindle 23 having reduced ends 24 rotatable in elongated slots 25, one provided in each of the side walls 11 and 12. A pair of paper-feed rollers 26 are rigidly secured on the shaft 23 in spaced relationship and carry peripheral friction rings 27 such as rubber. The friction rings 27 are adapted to project through complementary slots 28 in the front wall of the scroll plate 14 for the purpose of frictionally engaging any copy sheet interposed between said rings 27 and the presser member 17.

The roller unit 19 is adapted to be driven by the ratchet Wheel 22 which is preferably blanked out of sheet stock and mounted on the shaft 23 midway between the rollers 26. The ratchet wheel 22 is operated by the dog 21 and finger-trip bar 20, the dog 21 being held against the ratchet wheel 22 in the usual manner by a coiled spring 29 tensioned between the dog 21 and the back waH 16.

In order to permit the roller unit 19 to pivot about a fulcrum point so as to equalize the pressure of friction rings 27 carried by the rollers 26 against the presser member 17, as pointed out above, the reduced ends 24 of the shaft 23 are mounted in elongated slots 25, the direction of elongation being the same as the force applied by the presser member 17 at the point where the Wheel friction rings 27 engage the paper behind said presser member. A fulcrum bracket 30 is provided which is made from a sheet metal strip and consists of upper and lower support legs 31 and 32 with an arcuate section 33 connected therebetween. The upper leg 31 is formed with a hooked end 34 that engages in a recess 35 in the upper edge of the back plate 16, while the lower leg merely abuts against said back plate. The arcuate section 33 is shaped and positioned to embrace a circumferential portion of the projecting teeth of the ratchet wheel 22. Further, the position of the arcuate section 33 is such as to support the ratchet wheel 22 so that the reduced ends 24 of the shaft 23 are normally disposed at the center of the elongated slots 25.

From the above construction it will be apparent that if there are any irregularities in the positioning of the presser member 17 to the scroll plate 14 or any irregularities in other parts of the machine the roller unit 19 can readily adjust itself so as to assure an equalizing of the pressure of the feed-rollers against the presser member or interposed copy sheet.

While the form of invention herein shown and described embraces a preferred embodiment of the same, it is to be understood that the construction may be altered as to mechanical details without departing from the spirit of invention and the scope of what is claimed.

I claim:

1. In a copy holder comprising a casing having opposite side walls and a rear wall, a spindle pivotally mounted in said side walls, feed rollers rigidly mounted on said spindle and adapted to engage one side of a sheet of copy, presser means engaging the opposite side of said copy, means for floatingly mounting the ends of said spindle in said side walls, and means for supporting the central portion of said spindle about which the spindle can tilt as a fulcrum to permit the feed rollers to automatically equalize their pressure engagement against the sheet of copy.

2. In a copy holder comprising a casing having opposite side walls and a rear wall, a spindle pivotally mounted in said side walls, feed rollers rigidly mounted on said spindle and adapted to engage one side of a sheet of copy, presser means for engaging the opposite side of said copy, means for floatingly mounting the ends of said spindle in said side walls, a driver means mounted on said spindle centrally of the feed rollers, and a bracket attachedtothe rear wall of said casingjsaid bracket having a bearing portion engaged by said driver means and serving as a fulcrum for the spindle to permit said spindle to tilt about its centralportion and permit the feed rollers to automatically'equalize their pressure engagement against the sheet of copy.

3. In a copy holder comprising a casing having side walls and a rear wall, said side walls each having an elongated opening therein, a spindle having reduced ends pivotally and floatingly mounted in said elongated openings, feed rollers rigidly mounted on said spindle and adapted to engage one side of a sheet of copy, presser means for engaging the opposite side of said copy, a driver means in the form of a ratchet gear mounted on said spindle centrally of the feed rollers, and a bracket having an arcuate section partially embracing said ratchet gear and having leg members positioning said arcuate section away from said rear wall, said arcuate section serving as a fulcrum about which the spindle can tilt and permit the feed rollers to automatically equalize their pressure engagement against the sheet of copy.

4. A copy holder as defined by claim 3 wherein the openings in the side walls are elongated in the same direction as the force applied by said presser means.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,273,841 Dodds Feb. 24, 1942 

